1. The Eighteenth Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers was held on 25 January 2015 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, in conjunction with the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2015 (ATF). H.E. Mr. Htay Aung, Union Minister for Hotels and Tourism of Myanmar, chaired the Meeting and H.E. Mr. Ramon R. Jimenez, Jr., Secretary of Tourism of Philippines was the Vice-Chairman. The 18th M-ATM Meeting was preceded by the Forty-First Meeting of ASEAN National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) and their consultations with dialogue partners.

2. The Ministers welcomed the large influx of tourists in 2014 where preliminary figure showed that 97.2 million of international tourists visited ASEAN Member States, posting a growth of 3 per cent from 2013. The Ministers were also pleased that the operationalisation of ASEAN Open Skies Agreements help to maintain intra-ASEAN travel as the main source of tourism growth in the region, with record arrivals of 28.05 million, or 53 per cent share of total international tourists visited ASEAN.